Moving On (11 page)

Jenny found it difficult to accept that Karen had gone away on a cruise with Lionel Bostock. Nevertheless, she absented herself from any further coffee mornings. For the moment she didn’t want to face the barrage of questions and innuendo about Karen and Lionel. She knew she would have to do so sometime but she decided to wait until they returned and see what happened then.

She still couldn’t believe that Karen would do something so utterly foolish. She waited impatiently for a postcard or letter from Karen telling her where she was and what she was doing. Once that arrived she could quash all the ridiculous rumours that were going around.

But the postcard when it did arrive brought confirmation that all the rumours were correct and that Karen had gone on a cruise with Lionel Bostock.

Jenny was aghast. Surely it must be a joke; a very silly one at that. She went for a long walk to put the matter out of her head. She’d give Karen a good talking to when next she saw her and explain how much gossip this might have caused if anyone else at Merseyside Mansions had accidentally seen it and read what she’d written.

When she returned from her walk Jenny found small knots of people in the reception area clustered around the notice board and all excitedly chattering about a new notice that was on display.

She went to walk past, deciding she would read it later when there wasn’t quite such a crowd there, but found her way barred. Everyone wanted to talk to her about the cruise.

To her dismay she learned that was what the notice was all about. Lionel had sent a letter to the concierge telling her all about his cruise with Karen and asked her to display it on the notice board so that everyone at Merseyside Mansions would know all about it.

As she tried to fend off the many questions Jenny felt like a stag at bay.

She kept telling them that she’d had no idea that anything of this sort was happening until she had received a postcard that morning. She still insisted that she hadn’t even known that Karen had intended to go on a cruise with Lionel Bostock.

No one seemed to believe her, and she was on the verge of tears when Tom Fieldman took her by the arm and led her towards the front door, explaining over his shoulder that they had arranged to meet some friends for lunch.

‘I thought it best for you to get well clear of that mob until after all the excitement dies down,’ he said grimly as he steered her towards his car. ‘They’re almost like a lynch party.’

‘Thank you,’ Jenny said gratefully in a voice that was little more than a whisper, reflecting how upset she felt.

‘We’ll drive out into the Wirral and have lunch at a very quiet little pub I know in Heswall. If you want to talk about Lionel and Karen you can, otherwise we’ll forget all about them until they return from their cruise.’

Lionel had talked so much about his forthcoming holiday that Jenny knew not only which ship he was on but also its destination. On impulse, the very next day, she went over to the company’s offices in Liverpool and was delighted to find that she could check their progress. After that she went in every day and followed the progress of the liner they were on.

Afterwards, knowing she couldn’t settle to anything at home, and wanting to avoid meeting any of the residents at Merseyside Mansions, even Tom Fieldman, she stayed on in Liverpool. She would go into Lyons Corner House or the Kardomah for a coffee and then wander around the Bon Marche, C&A’s, T.J. Hughes or one of the other big department stores, idly eyeing up all the latest fashions.

After a time the assistants recognized her and seemed to know that she had no intention of buying anything, so apart from the occasional hopeful smile they ignored her completely.

The four weeks that Lionel and Karen were away were the longest Jenny had ever known. Yet, much as she longed for them to be back she was also rather apprehensive about the sort of reception they would receive from the other residents.

Why, oh why, had Karen acted so foolishly as to take up with a man who was so much older Jenny kept asking herself over and over again. Had Karen done so because he was reputed to be very wealthy, as so many of the residents seemed to think she had, or was she genuinely fond of the old man. He certainly dressed smartly and he was well spoken; witty even. He was wonderful for his age but there was no denying that he was often quite slow in his movements and in collecting his thoughts together.

They were due to return on a Monday and when Jenny made enquiries she was informed by a clerk at the shipping office that it would probably be late evening before passengers disembarked. She waited for Karen to call her but when midnight approached she gave up and went to bed.

She tossed and turned for most of the night, wondering whether their ship had been delayed for some reason or if Karen was putting off making contact until the next day.

Tuesday passed without any word from Karen. Jenny stayed in her apartment waiting for the phone to ring or for there to be a knock on her door. None came; she neither heard nor saw anyone the entire day.

Wednesday was coffee morning and Jenny was still unsure what to do. She didn’t have a telephone number for Lionel’s flat, so she couldn’t ring him to find out if he and Karen were back; she had no idea if they intended to brazen their return out in public or not.

Partly from curiosity, partly from a sense of duty, Jenny felt she ought to be there to support her wayward granddaughter. She dressed with care. A dark brown tailored skirt, a beige top and a pink and white floral neck scarf. She kept her make-up simple apart from a bright lipstick so that she didn’t look pale and washed out.

Head held high she walked into the community lounge and her heart pounded as she saw that Karen and Lionel were already in the room. She was aware that all eyes were on her, watching to see her reaction as she walked towards them and then hesitated as the concierge served them their coffee.

As Karen accepted a biscuit from the plate the sapphire and diamond ring on her left hand sparkled and so too did the matching earrings and sapphire and diamond pendant at her neckline.

Jenny smiled brightly as she stopped by their chairs. They certainly looked as though they’d had wonderful weather. Lionel’s face was tanned and Karen’s skin was a warm golden shade and was well displayed by the low neckline of the sleeveless navy dress she was wearing.

‘You both look as though you had good weather,’ Jenny murmured as she bent down and kissed Karen on the cheek.

Karen smiled sweetly. ‘We had an absolutely terrific time, Gran,’ she agreed enthusiastically, ignoring the titters that broke out from those sitting nearby.

Although the chair beside her was vacant, Karen didn’t invite Jenny to join them, so Jenny went over to the other side of the group where Tom Fieldman greeted her with a warm smile and indicated that the chair next to him was vacant.

‘Where have you been for the past couple of weeks?’ he asked quietly. ‘I haven’t seen you since we had lunch in Heswall and I’ve missed you,’ he added in a low voice as she sat down.

The concierge bringing her coffee saved Jenny from having to answer; it also distracted her sufficiently for Karen’s remark to take several minutes to register.

For a moment she wondered if she had misheard, but the babble of excited chatter and flood of questions directed at Karen and Lionel left her in no doubt. Karen really did say that she and Lionel had been married on board ship and that the captain had performed the ceremony.

Did that make it legal, Jenny wondered, or was it merely a perfunctory ceremony like the one that was enacted when someone was crossing the equator for the first time.

Lionel and Karen were very much the centre of attention, so it was impossible to ask her. Although Lionel said very little, Karen was in full sway about how spectacular the trip had been and how much they had enjoyed it and how wonderful the other passengers had all been. She also went into great details about all the different places they’d visited and the wonderful sights they’d seen.

‘Yes, she’s quite right, we had a wonderful time and I feel like a new man; in fact twenty years younger,’ Lionel boasted.

‘Surprising what a new woman can do for an old man,’ Dan Grey commented shrewdly.

His remarks brought renewed titters and made Jenny feel uneasy. They were all being relatively polite but she sensed that there was tension in the air. As she saw the exchange of raised eyebrows between Sandra Roberts and Jane Phillips she knew that there was trouble brewing.

She was not left in doubt for very long; before the end of the coffee morning Jane turned to Karen and asked sweetly, ‘Are you over fifty-five, Karen?’

Jenny heard the suppressed fury in Karen’s voice as she replied tartly, ‘You know damn well that I’m not.’

‘Then really you have no right to be living here, have you? These retirement flats are strictly for the over fifty-fives. We know Lionel comes into that category but …’ Her voice trailed off and everybody waited expectantly for Karen’s reply.

‘Don’t let it worry you, Jane. I’m well aware of the rules and restrictions,’ Lionel told her. ‘I’m planning on buying a house as soon as I have recovered from our cruise.’

‘That’s going to take a while at your age,’ Sandra said waspishly. ‘In fact, I would have thought you were far too old to move, especially into a house. All those stairs and a garden to look after! Surely, Lionel, that was one of the reasons why you came here; because you couldn’t cope with such things.’

‘Well, maybe I’ll settle for a bungalow this time,’ Lionel murmured. ‘Give me time; with my new wife’s help I’ll soon have something sorted out, so there’s no need for you to be concerned about us.’

‘Surely, in the case of a married couple, as long as one of them is in the right age bracket that is all that matters,’ Tom Fieldman protested mildly.

Nobody seemed to know what the ruling was about this and a variety of theories and arguments followed. Tom held up a hand in an attempt to halt the discussion. ‘I think Lionel is trying to say something,’ he said.

‘In the meantime, until I have managed to make other arrangements I hope that you will do all you can to make my new wife very welcome here,’ Lionel stated, patting Karen’s knee.

Before anyone could reply he pulled himself up out of his chair and, reaching for his walking stick, gave a brief nod to everyone as he made his way towards the door. Karen immediately jumped up and rushed to open it for him.

There was complete silence for a couple of minutes after they left and then a general babble of conversation broke out. Jenny was bombarded by comments and questions. Tom endeavoured to answer some of them on her behalf but without much success.

Jenny made her exit, as soon as it was possible to do so, with an apologetic smile at Tom. She didn’t want to listen to the gossip, the criticism or snide remarks about Lionel and her granddaughter and she certainly wasn’t prepared to answer any of their questions.

She went back to her own flat and wondered how long she was going to have to wait before Karen contacted her. The news that Lionel was thinking of moving away made good sense to her but she wondered where they intended going. She hoped it wouldn’t be too far away.

She felt sure that even though Karen was keeping her distance at the moment there would come a time in the not too distant future when she was going to need all the help and support she could give her.

Lionel was in his eighties and although he was claiming to be fit and well it was obvious from the way he’d got up from his chair and paused to get his breath back before walking towards the door that this was far from true. Not only were his movements very slow but he was walking as though he was in great discomfort. It seemed that either his knees or his hips were giving him some sort of trouble.

A major operation at his age could be serious, Jenny reflected. It would certainly mean that he would need a lot of nursing afterwards and she didn’t think Karen would be able to cope with such a situation on her own.

Jenny was very aware over the next couple of weeks that Karen was avoiding her as much as possible. In fact, the only time she saw her was when they met at the Wednesday coffee morning, and Karen always made sure that she and Lionel sat with other people.

Jenny felt rather piqued. Karen had not been to her flat once since she got back from her cruise. Nor had she invited her up to her flat since she had moved in with Lionel, but she suspected that it was because Karen felt a little uncomfortable about doing so.

She had, however, expected Karen to come and tell her about the cruise and the wedding. In the past as she was growing up she had always confided in her about everything. Her affair with Hadyn Trimm had stopped all that because Karen had realized the need for utter secrecy about their activities.

Now she was wondering whether or not the wedding had been a spur of the moment decision and that Karen was either regretting it or afraid of being criticized because she had taken such a drastic step as marriage to such an old man.

If this was the case then surely Karen needed the opportunity to confide in someone who understood her, and Jenny felt saddened that she was being excluded from her company.

Jenny was grateful that Tom Fieldman always made a point of arriving early on Wednesday coffee mornings and saving a chair for her even though she knew this caused raised eyebrows.

Tom acknowledged her concern about Karen and nodded understandingly when she confided in him that she was worried. Apart from agreeing with her that the age difference between Karen and Lionel was far too great for the marriage to work, he made no comment.

Rumours about Lionel buying a bungalow were rife. He gave very little away when he was questioned on Wednesday mornings except to confirm that they had found one they both liked and that they were going to buy it and were now awaiting the contract. Until that was signed they had no firm date for when they would be moving out of Merseyside Mansions.

Karen looked smug when it was being discussed but like Lionel she refused to go into any details about it. She wouldn’t even say if it was in Wallasey or further out in the Wirral.

When Jenny talked to Tom about it he agreed with her that it was sheer folly for Lionel to take on the responsibility of a bungalow at his time of life. ‘After all,’ Tom said, ‘Lionel moved into Merseyside Mansions because he had found that coping with a house had become too much for him.’

‘I think that is why most of us are here,’ Jenny agreed.

‘I hope Karen realizes that she is the one who is going to have to run the place,’ he added in a serious voice.

‘I don’t think she will find doing that and looking after Lionel very easy at all,’ Jenny murmured. ‘What’s more, I think Lionel is rapidly going downhill. He is walking very much slower these days and he is beginning to look quite frail; a strong gust of wind off the Mersey would blow him over.’

She had said it in jest and was shocked when a few days later she heard that was exactly what had happened. Lionel and Karen had gone for a stroll along the nearby promenade and a sudden high gust of wind had caused him to sway and fall.

People had rushed to help but he was unable to get up and in so much pain that in the end someone had called an ambulance. He had been taken to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary where it was found that his fall had resulted in a broken hip.

Karen immediately turned to Jenny for help and support. ‘You must come over to the hospital with me, Gran, I can’t face it on my own,’ she pleaded.

Jenny hesitated. After Karen’s selfish attitude over the past weeks she knew she should refuse, yet the sight of Karen’s tear-stained face touched Jenny’s heart. She looked like a little girl who had dropped her favourite doll and broken it.

‘Yes, very well,’ she conceded. ‘You should have gone in the ambulance with him, you know.’

‘I couldn’t go on my own.’ Karen shuddered. ‘When they picked him up from the pavement he … he was unconscious and I was afraid that he was dead.’

She looked so young, so visibly shaken by what had happened that Jenny’s heart softened. All the slights of the past weeks were forgotten.

‘Very well, I’ll come with you,’ she repeated. ‘They probably won’t let us see him though because if he has broken his hip they will be getting him prepared for an operation I imagine.’

Jenny was more or less right in her assumption that they wouldn’t be allowed to see Lionel.

‘Please, can we see him just for one minute, Sister,’ she pleaded.

The Sister hesitated, looked at her watch and then gave an imperceptible shrug. ‘Very well, but you can only stay two minutes. He probably won’t even know you are there, as he is already under sedation prior to going into theatre for his operation,’ she warned.

As they followed her to the small side ward where Lionel had been placed, she paused at the door. ‘Only one of you. You can go in Mrs Bostock but not your daughter.’

‘Karen is my granddaughter and I am not Mrs Bostock; Karen is,’ Jenny corrected her.

The Sister looked very taken aback. Frowning, she turned back to Karen, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘You are Mr Lionel Bostock’s wife?’

‘Yes, I am,’ Karen affirmed, tossing back her hair and staring at the Sister defiantly.

The Sister said no more but took her into the room. As she had warned, Lionel was too sedated to be aware that she was there. Karen took one look at the frail, inert figure and turned away, biting her lip, saying nothing, her whole body shaking.

As she rejoined her grandmother Jenny saw how distressed she was and her heart ached. She put her arms around the trembling girl and held her close, murmuring words of comfort and stroking her hair as if she were a small child.

What problems had Karen brought on herself, Jenny wondered as she tried to calm her. She thanked the Sister for her help and asked when the operation would take place.

‘As soon as we can get Mr Bostock into theatre,’ she said briskly. ‘There is no point in you waiting though as it will take several hours and he will probably spend some considerable time in the recovery room afterwards. I suggest you go home and ring in later this evening for a report. You certainly won’t be able to see him today.’

On the boat as they crossed over to Wallasey, Karen stared unseeingly at the water, tears running unchecked down her cheeks, lost in a world of her own.

‘Have you informed Edwin Bostock about what’s happened?’ Jenny asked.

‘Edwin Bostock?’ Karen stared at her blankly as if she didn’t understand what she said.

‘Yes, Lionel’s son,’ Jenny said rather impatiently.

‘No.’ Karen said, shaking her head. ‘Do you think I ought to?’

‘Of course you must.’

‘I thought that the hospital would do that,’ Karen muttered as she sniffed back her tears.

‘They might have done at one time when Edwin was down as “next of kin” but now, as Lionel’s wife, you are “next of kin”.’

Karen looked uneasy. ‘What do I tell him?’

‘Tell him exactly what’s happened of course. That you were out for a walk, Lionel fell, and that now he is in hospital with a broken hip and they’re about to operate.’

Karen shuddered. ‘I’d rather not be the one to tell him; could you do it for me please, Gran.’

‘No, certainly not! I think you should do it,’ Jenny said firmly. ‘He’ll think it extremely odd coming from me.’

‘I’ve fallen out with Edwin and I don’t want to have to talk to him,’ Karen protested. ‘He said some very nasty things to me when he came to meet us off the boat when we got back from our cruise and Lionel told him it had been our honeymoon.’

Jenny didn’t ask for details, she had a pretty good idea what Edwin Bostock had probably said. She could hardly imagine that he would be pleased to discover that his aged father had married a girl young enough to be his father’s granddaughter.

More than ever, though, she felt that Edwin must be told about what had happened to his father and that Karen should be the one to tell him.

When they got back to Merseyside Mansions, however, despite all Jenny’s efforts, Karen refused to phone Edwin, so reluctantly she undertook the onerous task.

‘Thank you for letting me know, Mrs Langton. Keep me informed if there is any further news and I will arrange to come to see him tomorrow. The hospital will probably not tell me very much if I contact them, so may I telephone you first for details of his progress?’

‘Of course,’ Jenny agreed. ‘If we hear any news in the meantime I will let you know immediately.’

‘There you are, that wasn’t so very difficult now was it,’ Jenny commented as she put down the receiver.

‘He couldn’t very well be rude to you but he would probably have ranted at me and said it was my fault that his father had broken his hip.’

Jenny dismissed the matter with a shrug. ‘Well, what are you going to do now? Do you want to stay here and have something to eat with me or do you want to go back to your own flat?’ she asked as she filled the kettle and switched it on.

‘I’ll stay here with you,’ Karen said quickly. ‘I don’t want to be up there on my own. That flat gives me the creeps. I’ll go up later and collect some clothes and my night things and I’ll sleep on your sofa like I did before, Gran.’

‘What about if the hospital try to contact you? The telephone number you’ve given them is Lionel’s number, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, but it’s hardly likely that they will be ringing me, not tonight at any rate. I’ll give them yours the next time I go in there,’ Karen answered airily.

Jenny bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from saying anything. Surely Karen must realize that it was extremely hazardous for a man of Lionel’s age to have a general anaesthetic and a major operation. He could have a relapse and deteriorate at any time and if that happened then Karen would be the one they would ring so that she could be there with him.